File sheet for filing information recording media

ABSTRACT

A file sheet for filing information recording media in which the information recording media can be inserted in and extracted from any upper and lower direction. Therefore, it is also possible to bind a single kind of file sheets in a spread apart manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention and Related Art Statement

The present invention relates to a file sheet for filing informationrecording media in which information recording media having rectangularplate like shape such as floppy disc or slide film can be filed andpreserved in good order.

FIG. 1A is a plan view showing a conventional file sheet for filing 3.5inch four floppy discs. The file sheet 1 is formed by a mold of hardplastic, and in the file sheet 1 are provided four substantially squarecompartments 2 which are parted by a frame 3 formed along four sideedges of the sheet and lateral and longitudinal partitions 4 and 5. Thelateral partition 4 is formed in the center portion of the file sheet 1in the lateral direction to separate the file sheet 1 into upper andlower portions and the longitudinal partition 5 is formed in the centerportion of the file sheet 1 in the longitudinal direction to separatethe file sheet 1 into right and left portions. That is to say, eachcompartment 2 is surrounded by a half of a lateral side 3a of the frame3, a half of a longitudinal side 3b of the frame 3, a half of thelateral partition 4 and a half of the longitudinal partition 5. Thefloppy discs are filed in these compartments. In each compartment 2,there are provided two lugs 6, one of said lugs being formed at thecenter of the half longitudinal portion 5a and the other being formed atthe center of the half longitudinal frame 3a. These lugs 6 are raisedfrom the bottom surface of the compartment. Therefore, when the floppydisc is filed in the compartment 2, it is held between the lugs 6, 6 andthe bottom surface of the compartment 2. In the bottom surface of thecompartment 2, are provided two pairs of pad portions 7,7 and 8,8, whichare raised from the bottom surface of sheet 1. A first pair of padportions 7, 7, which are extend substantially parallel with thelongitudinal frame 3a and the longitudinal partition 5, are arranged tobe separated from each other by a certain distance in the lateraldirection such that the floppy disc is stably supported thereby when itis inserted in the compartment 2 along the side walls 7a, 7a of thefirst pair of pad portions 7, 7. The second pair of pad portions 8, 8having their length shorter than those of the first pair of pad portions7, 7 are formed in alignment with the first pair of pad portions 7, 7.FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view cut along line 1b--1b in FIG. 1A. Asclear from FIG. 1B, the upper side walls 7b and 7b of the first pair ofpad portions 7, 7 are continued to the side of the upper lateral frame3b. It should be noted that in the lower two compartments 2, the upperside walls of the first pair of pad portions 7b, 7b are continued to thelateral partition 4. The lower side walls 7a, 7a of the first pair ofpad portions 7, 7 are inclined with respect to the bottom surface of thesquare compartment 2. On the other hand, the lower side walls 8b, 8b ofthe second pair of pad portions 8, 8 are isolated from the lateralpartition 4 and both upper and lower side walls 8a, 8a and 8b, 8bthereof are also inclined with respect to the bottom surface of thecompartment 2. The pad portions 7, 7 and 8, 8 function to hold thefloppy disc filed in the compartment 2 in cooperation with the lugs 6,6. When the floppy disc is inserted in the compartment 2, one of thefront and rear edge portions of the floppy disc is slid down along theinclined side walls 7a, 7a of the first pair of pad portions 7, 7 and isslid up along the inclined side via the bottom surface of thecompartment 2. The inclination of the side walls 7a, 7a and 8a, 8a aredetermined such that the insertion of the floppy disc into thecompartment 2 becomes easy. When the floppy disc is extracted from thecompartment 2, the extracting is made easy by the inclination of thelower side walls 8b, 8b of the second pair of pad portions 8, 8. That isto say, when the floppy disc is to be extracted from the compartment 2,the lower edge portion of the floppy disc positioned on the inclinedside walls 8b, 8b is pushed down toward the bottom surface of thecompartment 2, and then the other edge portion of the floppy disc, whichis positioned on the first pad portions 7, 7, is lifted up. Keeping theposture of the floppy disc, the floppy disc is pushed and slid towardthe upper direction and the upper edge portion of the floppy disc ridesthe lateral frame 3a easily. Thereafter, an operator can pull the floppydisc easily out of the compartment 2. In order to make easy to insertand extract the floppy disc in and from the file sheet, there areprovided half-circle concaved portion 3c in lateral frame 3, andportions of the lateral partition 4 are removed.

Further, in one side flange situating outside of the frame 3, there areformed a plurality of holes 9 by means of which a plurality of filesheets may be bound in piles.

In the conventional file sheet 1 stated in the above, however, the upperside wall 7b, 7b of the first pair of pad portions 7, 7 are extended upto the lateral frame 3b or the lateral partition 4. Therefore, when thefloppy disc is extracted from the compartment 2, it is impossible topush down the upper edge portion of the floppy disc positioned on thefirst pair of pad portions 7, 7 toward the bottom surface of thecompartment 2. Therefore, in the conventional file sheet 1, the floppydisc has to be inserted into the compartment 2 only from the upper sideas shown by an arrow 10 which is integrally formed on the bottom surfaceof compartment 2, and the extracting direction of the floppy disc isalso limited to only toward the upper side, i.e. in the directionopposite to the inserting direction.

As stated above, in the conventional file sheet 1, the insertingdirection and the extracting direction of the recording medium arelimited to only one direction. Therefore, when binding a plurality offile sheets, the file sheets are bound only in the same orientation.However, in the file sheet 1, in order to form the lugs 6, holes 6a aremade in boundary portions between the bottom surfaces of eachcompartment 2 and the side walls of the longitudinal frames 3a and inboundary portion between the bottom surfaces of each compartment 2 andthe longitudinal partition 5. Therefore, when binding a plurality offile sheets 1 one on the other, the lugs 6 formed in the lower filesheet are inserted in the holes 6a of the upper file sheet and thus twofile sheets are intimately bound one on the other. FIG. 2 is aperspective view showing a state that the floppy disc FD is insertedinto one of the compartments 2 of two conventional file sheets 1, 1'which ar exactly bound to each other. That is to say, the floppy disc FDis held between the pad portions 7, 8 formed in the upper file sheet 1and the lugs 6 formed in the lower file sheet 1'.

In order to avoid that two file sheets are exactly bound to each other,it is useful to bind the file sheet 1 in a spread manner, so that twofile sheets are arranged side by side. However, in the conventional filesheet, since the inserting direction and the extracting direction of therecording medium are limited to only one direction, when such filesheets 1 are arranged side by side, the inserting and extractingdirections for one sheet becomes opposite to those for the other sheet.In order to avoid such inconvenience, it is necessary to manufacture twokinds of file sheet in which the inserting direction and the extractingdirection are made to be opposite to each other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has its purpose to provide a file sheet for filinginformation recording media in which the information recording media canbe inserted in and extracted from in both upper and lower directions.According to the present invention, it is possible to bind a pluralityof file sheets in a spread manner, and thus, the state that therecording medium is inserted into two file sheets which are bound toeach other exactly can be prevented.

In order to achieve the above mentioned purpose, the file sheet forfiling information recording media according to the invention comprisesa rectangular sheet made of hard material and having a generally flatbottom surface, said sheet having the following parts formed integrallytherewith:

a frame formed along each side of the sheet and raised from the bottomsurface of the sheet by a first distance;

a flange formed outside the frame;

at least one lateral partition formed within a space surrounded by theframe, raised from the bottom surface of the sheet by said firstdistance and extending in the lateral direction of the rectangularsheet;

at least one longitudinal partition formed within the space surroundedby the frame, raised from the bottom of sheet by said first distance andextending in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular sheet, saidframe and lateral and longitudinal partitions dividing the space formedby the frame into a plurality of rectangular compartments for filing theinformation recording media therein;

a plurality of lugs formed in the frame and longitudinal partition suchthat at least two lugs are positioned in each compartment, said lugsbeing raised from the bottom surface of sheet by said first distance andprojecting over the bottom surface;

a first pair of pad portions raised from the bottom surface of sheet bya second distance which is smaller than said first distance andpositioned in the vicinity of the frame, but being separated from theframe, each of said pad portions including inclined side walls viewed inthe longitudinal direction;

a second pair of pad portions raised from the bottom surface of sheet bysaid second distance and positioned in the vicinity of the lateralpartition, but being separated from the lateral partition, each of saidpad portions including inclined side walls viewed in the longitudinaldirection; and

a plurality of holes formed in the flange along one longitudinal side ofthe sheet.

As stated above, in the present invention, since the first and secondpairs of pad portions are arranged separated from the lateral framesections and lateral partition, and both upper and lower side walls ofthese pad portions are inclined, it is possible to lift the edge portionof the recording medium positioned on the first or second pair of padportion up by pushing the opposite edge portion of the recording mediumdownwardly, and therefore it is possible to insert and extract therecording medium in and from the compartments in both the upper andlower directions. Thus, it is not necessary to manufacture two differentkinds of file sheets in order to bind them in a spread manner and it ispossible to prevent that the recording medium is filed in two filesheets which are bound to each other exactly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a plan view showing the conventional file sheet for filinginformation recording media;

FIG. 1B is a cross sectional view cut along line 1b--1b in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a state that a floppy disc isinserted in two file sheets which are bound exactly;

FIG. 3A is a plan view depicting an embodiment of the file sheet forfiling information recording media according to the invention;

FIG. 3B is a cross sectional view cut along line 3b--3b of FIG. 3A; and

FIG. 3C is a cross sectional view cut along 3c--3c of FIG. 3A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 3A is a plan view showing an embodiment of the file sheet forfiling recording media according to the present invention.

In FIG. 3A, the numerical number 11 represents the file sheet as awhole, 12 and 13 longitudinal frame sections and partition, 14 and 15lateral frame sections and partition. It should be noted that thelongitudinal and lateral frame sections 12 and 14 form a continuousframe which extends along four sides of the sheet. The file sheet 11 isformed by a mold of hard synthetic resin as a single body. The frame 12,14 and partitions 13, 15 are raised from the generally flat bottomsurface of the sheet 11 by a first distance 6 to 8 mm, so that a spacewithin the frame is divided into four rectangular compartments 16. Inthe present embodiment, a 3.5 inch floppy disc can be filed exactly ineach compartment 16.

In each compartment, there are provided two lugs 17 and 17, which areformed at center portions of the longitudinal frame section 12 andpartition 13. The lugs 17, 17 are raised from the bottom surface ofsheet by the first distance, so that they are aligned with the topsurfaces of the frame and partitions.

In the bottom surface of each compartment 16, are formed a pair of firstpad portions 18-1, 18-2 and a pair of second pad portions 19-1, 19-2.All of these pad portions extend in parallel with the longitudinal framesection 12 and partition 13. The pad portions 18-1 and 19-1 are arrangedin the close vicinity of the longitudinal partition 13 and the padportions 18-2 and, 19-2 are provided in the close vicinity of thelongitudinal frame section 12. Furthermore, in the bottom surface ofeach compartments 16, there are provided two third pad portions 20-1 and20-2 which are made parallel with the lateral frame sections andpartition 14 and 15, respectively. The upper third pad portion 20-1 isarranged between the first pad portions 8-1 and 8-2, and the lower thirdpad portion 20-2 between the second pad portions 19-1 and 19-2. All thepad portions 18, 19 and 20 are raised from the bottom of the sheet by asecond distance which is smaller than the first distance. The seconddistance may be 2-4 mm. The upper and lower side walls 18-1a, 18-2a,18-1b, 18-2b, 19-1a, 19-2a, 19-1b and 19-2b of the first and second padportions 18-1, 18-2, 19-1 and 19-2 are inclined. The upper side wall20-1a of the upper third pad portions 20-1 and lower side wall 20-2a ofthe lower third pad portion 20-2 are also inclined. The lower inclinedside walls 18-1b, 18-2b of the first pad portions 18-1, 18-2 and theupper inclined side walls 19-1a, 19-2a of the second pad portions 19-1,19-2 work to make it easy to insert the floppy disc in the compartment16. And, when the floppy disc is extracted from the file sheet 11, theupper inclined side walls 18-1a, 18-2a of the first pad portions 18-1,18-2 and the lower inclined side walls 19-1b, 19-2b of the second padportion 19-1, 19-2, the upper and lower inclined side walls 20-1a, 20-2aof the third pad portion 20-1 and 20-2 work to make the movement of thefloppy disc smooth. That is to say, when extracting the floppy disc fromthe file sheet 11, first of all, an operator pushes one of the front andrear edge portions of the floppy disc down, and then the other edgeportion thereof is lifted up, and thereafter, the operator can easilyslide the floppy disc in upper or lower direction to slide out thefloppy disc from the compartment 16.

The upper side walls 18-1a, 18-2a of the first pad portions 18-1, 18-2,the lower side walls 19-1b, 19-2b of second pad portions 19-1, 19-2 andthe upper side wall 20-1aof the third pad portion 20-1 and the lowerside wall 20-2a of the third pad portion 20-2 may be formed to beperpendicular to the bottom surface of the compartment 16 when the upperand lower side walls are separated from the lateral frame section 14 andlateral partition 15 by a sufficiently long distance. Even in this case,when extracting the floppy disc from the file sheet 11, it is sufficientto lift the side portion of the floppy disc up.

Further, in the center portions of the frame lateral sections andpartition 14, 15, there are provided concaved portions 14a, 15a in orderto make it easy to push down the floppy disc when extracting the floppydisc from the file sheet 11.

In the file sheet 11, is integrally provided a flange 21 out of theframe 12, 14. In one longitudinal side 21a of the flange 21, there areprovided a plurality of holes 22 for binding a plurality of file sheets.

The floppy disc is inserted into the compartment 16 of the file sheet 11in the following manner. First of all, one edge portion of the floppydisc is positioned on the lower inclined side walls 18-1b, 18-2b of thefirst pad portions 18-1, 18-2 or on the upper inclined side walls 19-1a,19-2a of the second pad portions 19-1, 19-2, and thereafter the floppydisc is inserted under the lugs 17, 17 along the inclined side walls bypushing the other edge portion of the floppy disc inside. The other edgeportion of the floppy disc is further pushed up or down until the floppydisc is completely inserted in the compartment 6. The floppy disc issupported between the lugs 17, 17 and the pad portions 18, 19, 20 in apositive manner. Extracting the floppy disc filed in the file sheet 11is as follows. Pushing one side portion of the floppy disc positioned inthe vicinity of the lateral frame section or partition 14 or 15downwardly, the other side portion of the floppy disc is lifted and thefloppy disc is inclined by using a fulcrum of edges of the lower sidewall 18-1b, 18-2b of the first pad portion 18 or edges of the upper sidewall 19-1a, 19-2a of the second pad portion 19. Thereafter, said oneedge portion of the floppy disc is slid in the longitudinal direction,the other edge portion of the floppy disc rides on the lateral partition4 or 5. And the floppy disc is left from the lugs 17, 17 by furthersliding the side portion and pulling it by the operator. As statedabove, the pad portion 18, 19 and 20 are arranged so as to make thecompartment 16 symmetrical with the lateral center line thereof, so thatit is possible to insert and extract the floppy disc in and from thefile sheet in either of upper and lower directions.

FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view cut along line 3b--3b in FIG. 3A, andFIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view cut along line 3c--3c in FIG. 3A inwhich the inclined side walls of each pad portions 18-2, 19-2, 20-1,20-2 are illustrated apparently.

The present invention is not limited to the above stated embodiment, andmany variations may be conceived by those skilled in the art. In theabove stated embodiment, four compartments are formed per one filesheet. However, six or more compartments can be formed by increasing thenumber of the lateral and longitudinal partitions in order to file moresmall size recording medium such as slide films.

What is claimed is:
 1. A file sheet for filing information recording media, said file sheet comprisinga rectangular sheet made of hard material and having a generally flat bottom surface, said sheet having the following parts formed integrally therewith: a frame formed along each side of the sheet to divide the sheet into at least one lateral partition and at least one longitudinal partition, said frame being raised from a bottom surface of the sheet by a first distance; a flange formed outside the frame; said at least one lateral partition being raised from the bottom surface of the sheet by said first distance and extending in a lateral direction of the rectangular sheet; said at least one longitudinal partition being raised from the bottom of the sheet by said first distance and extending in a longitudinal direction of the rectangular sheet, said frame, said at least one lateral partition and said at least one longitudinal partition dividing the space formed by the frame into a plurality of rectangular compartments for filing information recording media therein; a plurality of lugs formed in the frame and said at least one longitudinal partition such that at least two lugs are positioned in each compartment, said lugs being raised from the bottom surface of the sheet by said first distance and projecting over the bottom surface; a first pair of pad portions in each compartment raised from the bottom surface of the sheet by a second distance smaller than said first distance and positioned adjacent to the at least one lateral partition and the at least one longitudinal partition of the frame and separated from the at least one lateral partition and the at least one longitudinal partition of the frame by a portion of said bottom surface, each of said first pair of pad portions including inclined side walls viewed in the longitudinal direction of the frame; a second pair of pad portions in each compartment raised from the bottom surface of the sheet by said second distance and positioned adjacent to the at least one lateral partition and the at least one longitudinal partition and separated from the at least one lateral partition and the at least one longitudinal partition by a portion of said bottom surface, each of said second pair of pad portions including inclined side walls viewed in the longitudinal direction of the frame; and a plurality of holes formed in the flange along one longitudinal side of the sheet, so that information recording media may be both inserted and withdrawn from opposite sides of said frame.
 2. A file sheet for filing information recording media according to claim 1, wherein:said sheet is formed by a mold of synthetic resin.
 3. A file sheet for filing information recording media according to claim 1, wherein:four compartments are provided in the sheet.
 4. A file sheet for filing information recording media according to claim 1, wherein:said file sheet further comprises a third pair of pad portions extending parallel with said at least one longitudinal partition, one pad portion of said third pair of pad portions is arranged between said first pair of pad portions, and another pad portion of said third pair of pad portions is arranged between said second pair of pad portions.
 5. A file sheet for filing information recording media according to claim 4, wherein side walls of said third pair of pad portions are inclined. 